Unto the kingdom of perpetual night
by 2910leiv
Summary: Some ships have gone missing in a remote area of space and the Enterprise is sent to investigate. What they find will shock them. Oneshot. Rating just to be safe.


**I do not own the rights to either Star Trek or Alien. I just got inspired by them.**

**This was just a small weird idea that wouldn't leave me alone.**

_'Tis a vile thing to die, my gracious lord,  
When men are unprepared and look not for it._

_oxo_

_Who pass'd, methought, the melancholy flood  
With that grim ferryman which poets write of,  
Unto the kingdom of perpetual night._

_- Shakespeare_

Unto the kingdom of perpetual night

The Enterprise was gliding majestically through a little visited part of space. It was on the outer reaches of populated space on the far side of the galactic arm. Planetary systems were getting fewer and further between as the ship flew on, almost leaving the galaxy. Normally the Federation wouldn't spend many resources on this area, but a number of mysterious disappearances had been reported from the area, including that of Admiral MacCuro's granddaughter. So they had been sent to investigate.

Kirk had been foaming at the mouth upon hearing it. They were supposed to have been going on extended shore leave after that not-so-small debacle at the Romulan Neutral zone, which no one was supposed to know about. '_Damn it the crew needed the down time._' He scowled furiously to himself as he watched the flickering lights of the floors as the turbolift sped passed them. He frowned. '_He needed the down time._' He knew he was bone tired and needed a break from everything. Bones had yelled at him yesterday for making the young ensign, Chodzik, cry. She wouldn't stop going on an on about how she was going to miss her sisters wedding being stuck out here. He had just been so feed up and pushed too far. Kirk sighed. Bones was right. He did need shore leave. Badly. '_Risa would've been nice_.' But it was not to be. Instead they were stuck out here in the middle of… no scratch that… in the far reaches of anywhere remotely interesting. He sighed. He really had to give these maudlin thoughts up. It was no use taking his animosity out on anymore innocent crewmembers.

There was a sudden bleeping of the intercom and Lt. Uhura's melodic voice flooded his turbolift. He glared at the intercom as if it had done him a personal insult.

"Bridge to Captain Kirk." He punched the respond button a little too harshly.

"Kirk here."

"Captain, we're picking up two unknown signals. The first seems to be an automated warning signal. I'm running it through the translations programme now. The second contains a data-package. We're running it through the computer as we speak."

"Very well, Lieutenant. Good work. I'll be right up. Kirk out." He heard the intercom switch off before he even managed to raise his hand. A small smile crept onto his face. He was blessed with an efficient and capable crew and he knew just how much of a difference they made. He told the lift the new destination and was whisked away toward the bridge.

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

"What have you got?" Kirk asked as he stepped off the turbolift and directly over to the communications station. Lt. Uhura was busily pushing buttons and holding her earpiece firmly to her ear. She gave him a glance and said:

"It _is_ an automated warning, sir. The technology isn't one on record in the database, but some of the languages are known to us. It's on a loop, playing the same message continuously."

"Let's hear it." Kirk said. He glanced over at Spock, but the science officer had his face buried in the scanner, undoubtedly already sorting and analysing fresh data. Kirk decided to leave him to it for now. Uhura pressed some of her buttons and a droning computer voice sounded.

"Warning. Danger. Do not enter this sector. This is a level 34 biohazard warning." The message repeated a few times until Uhura cut the connection.

"What does 'a level 34 biohazard' mean?" Chekov asked the bridge in general.

"Indeed." Mr. Spock had finally liberated himself from his scanner.

"What about the data package? Perhaps that contains further information." Kirk looked pointedly at Lt. Uhura, who nodded.

"Yes, sir. It would seem to hold a video/audio message as well as some computer files. The audio is still being translated." She noticed Kirk's look of impatience and hurriedly added: "It's not a language that resembles anything we know, so the programme needs to run grammar and syntax tests and…"

Kirk cut her off. He knew how the translation software worked, so there was no need for her to get defensive about it.

"And the files?" he asked, straining to remain polite. '_How he longed for some peace and quiet._'

"Also being translated. The writing symbols are unknown. But I can show you visuals, sir." He nodded. It was better than nothing. It wasn't her fault the computer was having difficulty with the unknown language. He smiled at her and nodded. She flashed him a smile back and pushed some more buttons. The screens in front of her changed to show the images from the files. Spock stepped closer.

"What do you make of these?" Kirk asked him, knowing Spock would have been busy analyzing them from the time they appeared in the data banks.

"There appears to be 36 images of the same type of being."

He indicated a screen with a rather gritty image of a long smooth head and fierce looking teeth. It looked menacing. '_Apex predator._' His mind provided and a primal shiver made its way up his spine. Spock brought up another image. This one of an odd pale skeletal looking thing draped across a humanoid persons face.

"There are a further 19 images such as this and," he brought up another image "11 of these." It looked like a street with buildings along it, with shops and a sidewalk café. But there were no people in the photo. Instead there were rows upon rows of strange looking pods or eggs lining the entire street. Some had hatched, others were waiting to. Spock brought forth another page on the screen. This one showing a computer graphic of the multi-teethed alien with a genetic code displayed underneath. Spock flicked through several images like it, displaying the various beings and their DNA. There was also a lot of writing and at one point a recorded voice spoke in the as yet untranslated language.

"What does it mean?" Kirk half whispered, knowing the Vulcan would hear him. Spock half-raised an eyebrow.

"The data is inconclusive at this point. There are however more disturbing information available." Kirk looked at Spock more closely. The man was looking decidedly greener than usual, though only the ones closest to him would be able to tell. Spock brought up an image of what appeared to be physical scan of a humanoid. Kirk frowned.

"As you can see the image shows a foreign body within the male patient." Kirk nodded.

"A parasite?"

"Possibly." Spock hesitated. "We will now for certain when the translation is finished. However given the next image I believe your query is probable." He pushed a button and a new image appeared. Kirk gagged, swallowing down bile. It showed a room with a dining table and chairs, food had been set out and it looked like people had abandoned their meal in the middle of it. '_No wonder!'_ Kirk thought and swallowed hard again. On the floor next to an overturned chair lay a corpse with its torso burst open. Blood and intestines had been spilled all over, great big splotches having been splashed onto almost every surface. Kirk sickeningly noticed a child's toy covered in blood.

"Oh my Lord! What in Hell did that?!" Dr. McCoy's voice bellowed from just behind Kirk, who jumped. He hadn't noticed the doctor coming unto the bridge. He turned to face him and was about to ask the man to lower his voice, when ensign Chodzik fainted. Spock managed to catch the young woman and carefully lowered her to the floor. Doctor McCoy rushed over instantly and set to work scanning her with the medical scanner he always carried with him.

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

A few hours later the senior bridge crew was gathered around the conference table in their preferred meeting room, just one deck below the bridge itself. Spock was presenting the facts as they now knew them to a roomful of grim faces.

"This area of space was home to a mixed colony of various species, none of whom are familiar to us. The images of the cityscapes were from their settlements on the fifth planet in the nearby system. That world is now uninhabitable." There was a soft murmur around the table at hearing this. "One day a farmer was brought into the medical facility for treatment." An image appeared on the screen of that strange pale skeletal looking thing draped over a man's face. "He had been attacked by an unknown creature, which had latched onto his face as shown in the photo. The man did not show any signs of being in physical distress and was able to breathe normally. He was however unconscious. After 3,463 days the creature relinquished its hold on the man and was quickly dispatched of and preserved for study." Spock paused to take a drink of water, before continuing.

"The patient regained consciousness a day later, seemingly unharmed. After a final check the man was released from the medical facility. He died the next day." Startled cries sounded around the table. Spock brought up an image not unlike the one Kirk had seen earlier. This one was showing a corpse lying in the middle of the street with a burst open chest and abdomen. He swallowed. He was already hating this. Spock waited calmly for the humans to calm a little, before continuing.

"A small creature was reported to have erupted from the man's body and fleeing into the city sewer system. A search was made, but no unknown creatures were found at that time." He took another sip of water.

"Over the following weeks an increasing number of similar incidents were reported. The government determined that they were being invaded by a hostile species and an assortment of attempts was made to stop the invasion. They were unsuccessful. A full scale evacuation was ordered and ships were sent to rescue the population." Spock looked at his fellow crewmembers, listening in horrified fascination. "They sent down weapons of mass destruction to annihilate all life forms remaining on the colony world. They hoped to contain and neutralize the threat. Again… they were not successful." Uhura gasped loudly and clamped a hand over her mouth, her eyes wide and clouding over with tears. Chief engineer Scott patted her other arm in an attempt to comfort her, but he was looking rather misty eyed himself.

"None of the ships made it back to their home territories." Spock said in a very controlled voice.

"But… No… What about our ships? Is this what happened to them?" Uhura asked, getting more and more upset. She had several friends onboard some of those missing ships. Her cousin was serving on a roscarioan science vessel that had disappeared here.

"There is insufficient evidence at this time to begin speculating upon…"

"Damnit, you cold blooded hobgoblin! Insufficient evidence be damned! Can't you…" McCoy exploded and the meeting was about to descend into chaos, when Kirk decided to step in.

"That's enough." He said loudly, cutting through the din. "Please keep it down. Yelling at each other will not provide the answers for us." There were scattered acknowledgements around the table. "Lieutenant, would you like a moment?" he offered, seeing how upset she still was. She hesitated before shaking her head and he gave her a single nod.

"Very well. Mr. Spock, what evidence do we have about the disappearing ships?" Kirk sent a stern look at McCoy, warning him against making further outbursts. The older man stared at Spock instead.

"There are few remaining traces of the vessels. A scan of the area shows that there has been traffic in the area, but it is too imprecise to conclude the possible identities and/or whereabouts of the missing ships."

"Then how do you know the colony ships didn't make it home?" McCoy asked challengingly.

"There is an eyewitness account testifying the fact." Spock said, and Kirk imagined he had seen a moment of pain flicker in the Vulcan's eyes before it disappeared.

"An eyewitness account. And you believe them? We all know how unreliable…"

"Doctor." Kirk warned.

"The account is reliable and backed by evidence." Spock stated calmly.

"Oh really? I'd like to see that evidence." McCoy crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair. Spock looked at him for a long moment and Kirk was just about to speak up, when Spock said:

"Very well, Doctor." Then he spoke to the computer, telling it to retrieve a specific file. "This is the video/audio message that accompanied the data package." Then he told the computer to play it.

The screen flicker with static and then a picture appeared. A teenaged boy with lilac skin, pointed ears and feather like feelers on top of his head looked back at them. He seemed to be standing in a darkened and badly damaged corridor; a blue light blinking on and off slightly to his left. The boy looked rather worse for wear. His clothes were filthy and torn, as if he had crawled through a less than sanitary service duct, and he was drenched in a purple liquid. Kirk couldn't help but gasp, when he realised it was blood. The boy was holding his stomach with his left arm and showing great pain. He was gasping for breath, as if he had been running and looked utterly terrified. He opened his mouth, but all that came out was a groan of pain; then he tried again.

"My name is… Raz…Razimiro. I'm… the last… survivor. Everyone… they're… all… gone." His voice broke and tears broke free to flow down his cheeks. "Everyone I ever knew… gone… the world… gone… the other ships… everyone." He gasped and turned around briefly before turning back to look at the screen. "If you're re… receiving this… Stay away!.. It's not safe… here." He groaned in pain and crumbled a little before looking back at the screen again. "There are monsters here… Invaders… Beasts… We've packed all… the information… we have. The… the ship," he groaned again. "The ship is locked on… a course for… the sun. They can… survive in space." He looked over his shoulder again, before continuing. "I will not… survive… There is one inside me… and the adults… the monsters… are hunting me… They're almost here." He looked beseechingly at the screen. "Leave! Stay away!... Don't let them… invade you… too."

Then he half groaned half screamed in pain and fright. Gasping he looked at the screen. "Go!" he whispered to them and stood frozen as two adult aliens came into view, one from either side. Their muscular grey bodies almost glittered in the overhead lighting. One of them swiped a piece of debris out of the way with its powerful tail as they moved closer and stood right next to the boy. The one on the left lowered its head and hissed menacingly into the boy's ear, baring its teeth and dripping goo. Razimiro was hyperventilating with fear, as he whispered: "Leave!" never breaking his stare at the screen. Then both the aliens moved in for the kill. Blood splattered onto the screen and the boy's pain filled scream was cut off abruptly. The sounds of the aliens' teeth tearing through flesh and bone and the sound of their hissing and snarling filled the shocked meeting room.

"Computer, stop." Kirk demanded as he watched a severed arm being flung passed the blood covered lens of the screen. The screen went blank. He stared at for several minutes, lost in the memory of those awful images. _'The boy had been so scared. What an awful way to die.' _He felt sick to his stomach and shaking inside. Glancing at the people around the table they were fairing no better. Uhura was sobbing openly, leaning into Scotty's embrace. Scotty himself looking rather shaken too. McCoy was in tears as well, though more subdued. He had always been very empathic; it was part of what made him such a good doctor. Spock was calm as ever, but Kirk knew him well enough to see the telltale signs of Spock's internal struggle for control.

"Mr. Spock, please prepare a thorough report for Starfleet pertaining all our knowledge about these… aliens and what we know to have happened." Kirk said after a long moment of silence.

"Yes, Captain."

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

After careful consideration Starfleet Command decided that the missing ships and their crews were MIA and presumed dead. Memorial services were held by the families and the Federation issued a sector wide ban on that region of space. The Enterprise was soon called away for some much needed shore leave, though Kirk didn't get a chance to visit Risa. Pretty soon life had moved on and most had forgotten about the mysterious disappearances in a far off sector. Only the chief bridge officers on the Enterprise and a small research division at Starfleet HQ remembered.

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Cari Sartos Research Station, near the Klingon neutral zone.

"Dear merciful Allah! What is that?" The medic asked as a he looked at the woman in front of him. Her entire face was cowered by a strange pale skeletal like creature.

The end

**R & R, please.**


End file.
